Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in the U.S. are facing new demands as a result of tariff volatility, rising logistics costs and persistent supply chain disruptions, according to survey data from the firm Ship4wd.
Through the survey company Pollfish, Ship4wd surveyed 500 SMBs across the U.S. in April 2026. In the findings, 96% of those SMBs said tariffs have directly hurt their shipping, sourcing or supply chains in the past year.
Ship4wd refers to itself as a digital freight forwarder and B2B sourcing ecommerce marketplace.
72% of SMB respondents said they lack full real-time visibility into their shipping and sourcing operations. 62% reported losing revenue or missing out on sales due to problems with supply chains.
59% of those businesses said they’re stockpiling inventory as their primary coping strategy. And despite varying tariff rates and rising fuel costs, 51% said their supply chain disruption protocol has never actually been tested.
This comes as 91% of SMBs in the survey said they are already using AI in some form within their logistics operations. Additionally, 89% said they integrated supply chain solutions that are critical to their business.
Ship4wd data: Tariffs are single-biggest disruptor to supply chains
Nearly three-quarters of SMBs (73.4%) said tariffs were the top factor impacting their shipping, sourcing or supply chain over the past year.
Among those who felt the effects of tariffs, 38% considered the impact moderate. Meanwhile, 34% called the impact significant, and 5% described it as devastating to their businesses.
On the other end, 19% said the impact of tariffs was minor on their businesses.
Other top supply chain disruptions concerns in 2026 included:
- Rising shipping costs (71%)
- Delayed deliveries (53.6%)
- Supplier disruptions (44.6%)
The least-cited supply chain disruptions that SMBs cited:
- Lack of visibility (16.4%)
- Regulatory and compliance issues (18.8%)
- Geopolitical shifts (21.4%)
The concern surrounding tariffs isn’t just about shipping, Ship4wd said. 65,8% of SMBs said new tariffs or trade restrictions are also the single biggest regulatory threat to their business. That’s far more than those citing concerns about labor laws (11.4%), data privacy (10.4%) and environmental regulations (9.8%).
How supply chain disruptions can hurt SMBs
“While large enterprises are able to absorb the hit of a late container or a surprise increase in tariffs, SMBs can’t,” Ship4wd wrote in its findings report. “A two-week shipping delay can easily cascade into a stockout, then lost sale, decrease in markeplace ranking or the loss of a customer.”
61.6% of SMBs reported missing out on sales due to disruptions. On a similar note, 56.2% reported inventory shortages or stockouts.
About half (50.8%) of SMBs reported customer dissatisfaction or churn as a result of supply chain disruptions. A similar amount (49.4%) noted increased operational costs.
“The unpredictability of tariffs, timelines, and shipping rates doesn’t stay contained within operations,” according to Ship4wd. “It trickles directly into customer retention and revenue. When delivery timelines shift and inventory is unavailable, the end customer bears the burden, straining the seller-customer relationship and risking the loss of that customer for good.”
The report found that 13% of SMBs had lost repeat customers as a result of shipping and delivery problems.
What strategies do SMBs use to deal with supply chain disruptions?
The most common approach to cope with disruptions was increasing inventory levels, according to the Ship4wd report. More than half of respondents cited that approach (58.8%) and using technology for tasks such as real-time tracking and AI forecasting (51%).
Less than half of SMBs in the survey said they had strengthened relationships with freight forwarders in the past year (43.2%). A similar amount had expanded shipping routes or into new markets (42%).
“Technology-driven approaches are climbing,” Ship4wd said. “But the gap between stocking up on inventory and adopting digital solutions suggests that most small businesses are still managing disruption reactively rather than strategically.”
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